The portable media player market has changed dramatically in the past several years and with it, the portable media player enclosure market. Recent trends have focused on the emergence of the smartphone, which simply put is a handheld phone incorporating several additional features not found in traditional handheld phones.
Smartphones can include one or more of the following features: the merging of a personal data/digital assistant (PDA) and a cellular phone; a keyboard interface (e.g., a QWERTY keyboard) configuration as either a touch screen or tactile keyboard; the capability to receive/download audio/video files. Furthermore, smartphones can: run an operating system software providing a standardized interface and platform for application developers; include advanced features like e-mail, Internet access and e-book reader capability; and/or (c) include a built-in full keyboard or external USB keyboard and VGA connector. In other words, a smartphone can be considered a miniature computer that has telephone capability. One example of a smartphone is the iPhone® product by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Another example of a smartphone is the Blackberry® product by Research In Motion (RIM) of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Following the introduction of smartphones, smartphone cases were introduced. Unfortunately, current smartphone cases have many shortcomings. For example, current smartphone cases do not provide the protection most sophisticated smartphones need. That is, current smartphone cases do not provide adequate protection from both major damage caused by, for example, dropping the smartphone and minor damage caused by, for example, scratches inflicted by day-to-day use. This requirement for protecting the smartphone from major damage is substantially different from protecting the smartphone from minor damage. Typically, a smartphone case will either primarily address protection from major damage, caused by dropping and the like or minor damage, caused by scratching. Cases that primarily address scratching protection tend to be manufactured from flexible materials and generally are designed not to scratch the mobile device. These cases are often called soft cases or enclosures. Unfortunately, protecting a mobile device from scratch damage can leave a customer with an unsatisfactory user experience because it does not protect the mobile device when dropped.
Alternatively, cases that primarily address major damage, such as dropping damage, tend to be manufactured from non-flexible, hard materials. These cases are often called hard cases or enclosures. However, smartphones can be difficult to remove from the hard cases and thus annoy the user. Additionally, both hard case and soft case designs can present difficulty for a user to access controls (e.g., buttons) on the side of the case, which is typically covered by the case/enclosure.
Therefore, a need exists in the art to develop a smartphone case or enclosure that will provide protection from both scratch and dropping damage, along with easy smartphone removal and access to control buttons.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, the drawing figures illustrate the general manner of construction, and descriptions and details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention. Additionally, elements in the drawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention. The same reference numerals in different figures denote the same elements.
The terms “first,” “second,” “third,” “fourth,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments described herein are, for example, capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Furthermore, the terms “include,” and “have,” and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, device, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to those elements, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, system, article, device, or apparatus.
The terms “left,” “right,” “front,” “back,” “top,” “bottom,” “over,” “under,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.
The terms “couple,” “coupled,” “couples,” “coupling,” and the like should be broadly understood and refer to connecting two or more elements or signals, electrically, mechanically or otherwise. Two or more electrical elements may be electrically coupled, but not mechanically or otherwise coupled; two or more mechanical elements may be mechanically coupled, but not electrically or otherwise coupled; two or more electrical elements may be mechanically coupled, but not electrically or otherwise coupled. Coupling (whether mechanical, electrical, or otherwise) may be for any length of time, e.g., permanent or semi-permanent or only for an instant.
“Electrical coupling” and the like should be broadly understood and include coupling involving any electrical signal, whether a power signal, a data signal, and/or other types or combinations of electrical signals. “Mechanical coupling” and the like should be broadly understood and include mechanical coupling of all types. The absence of the word “removably,” “removable,” and the like near the word “coupled,” and the like does not mean that the coupling, etc. in question is or is not removable.